This document discusses blood banking in India. It notes that India has a deficit of 20-40% in blood supply, with many districts not having enough stocks to meet demand. Blood banking is an important but underdeveloped sector in India. Solutions that have helped include initiatives by NACO and SBTC to boost donor recruitment, and private hospitals hiring specialized staff. Haemovigilance programs also aim to identify issues and improve the transfusion process. The interviewee from Alliance Transfusion discusses ongoing challenges in blood banking in India and how solutions have helped address some problems.

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contents VOLUME : 05 I ISSUE : 7 I JUNE 2014
The most efficient carrier of body nutrients,
blood ensures health of all, from a micro-cell to the largest
organ in the human body. The medium is also most vulnerable to
infections and diseases, which often become life threatening for
patients and complex for doctors. Doc N Doc speaks
to a few haematology experts to know the
challenges and opportunities for the specialisation
in India. The areas visited are blood banking,
ICT and haemovigilance, bone marrow
transplantation, transfusion medicine and
haematology analysers
04 DOCNDOC + JUNE 2014
THE FLUID OF LIFE
COVER
STORY ((

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4. COVER
STORY((

5. The
The most efficient
carrier of body nutrients,
blood ensures health of
all, from a micro-cell
to the largest organ.
The medium is also
most vulnerable to
infections and diseases,
which often become
life threatening for
patients
and complex
for doctors.
Doc N Doc speaks to a
few haematology
experts to know the
challenges and
opportunities
for the specialisation
in India. The areas
visited are blood
banking, ICT and
haemovigilance,
bone marrow
transplantation,
transfusion medicine
and haematology
analysers
fluid
Life
of
JUNE 2014 + DOCNDOC 31

6. ndia has a deficit of blood
supply in the range of 20 to
40 per cent. In most dis-
tricts, blood banks often do
not have enough stocks to
meet the demands. With
medical tourism industry on the
surge, blood banking becomes even
more important. In an interview
with Jyoti Verma of Doc N Doc,
Dr Gautam Wankhede,
Director-Medical Affairs, Alliance
Transfusion Pvt Ltd, talks about
the many challenges for blood
banking in India and the solutions
it already has. Excerpts:
What is the status of India’s
blood bank industry?
The quality and range of healthcare
services offered in India have im-
proved significantly over the last
decade. However, blood banking
(transfusion services) has been un-
able to keep up to the pace of this
change. About five years back, the
value of the Indian blood transfu-
sion services was about $100 mil-
lion. But the industry has the
significant growth potential. Blood
banking is perhaps the only branch
of medicine, which is strictly regu-
lated by government policies, in-
cluding ceiling on prices, thus
overall revenue share of this sector
is also lower when compared to
other medical industry sectors.
India has a deficit of blood sup-
ply in the range of 20 to 40 per
cent. In most districts, blood banks
often do not have enough stocks to
meet the demands. With the rev-
enue being limited, perhaps lesser
attention is paid to donor motiva-
tion and recruitment exercise and,
at times, the quality of manpower is
also compromised.
Availability of blood (and its com-
ponents) is as important as the
surgery itself. Most surgeons
would not start an operative
procedure till there is assur-
ance of sufficient availabil-
ity of compatible blood.
With medical tourism in-
dustry on the surge,
blood banking be-
comes even more
important, as peo-
ple travelling to
India from abroad
do not bring in
their relatives/
friends for blood
donation; it is the re-
sponsibility of the
healthcare service to en-
sure that enough safe blood is avail-
able for any eventuality during their
treatment in India. Thus, the blood
banking industry is intricately linked
to the overall healthcare industry.
However, in the recent past,
transfusion services have shown
more flexibility in pricing and have
started offering tests and services
that are available in the developed
world and the blood banking indus-
try must now be much bigger than
the figure quoted earlier.
What solutions have we reached
to counter these challenges?
Over the last five to seven years,
National Aids Control Organisation
(NACO) has been providing support
to many blood banks across India.
Some State Blood Transfusion
Councils (SBTC) and organisa-
tions such as Indian Society of
Blood Transfusion and Im-
munohaematology (ISBTI)
have been very aggres-
sive in their blood
donor recruitment
drives and this has
resulted in some
states
such as Maharashtra
and Haryana becom-
ing self sufficient or
even surplus as far as
blood
supply is concerned.
Besides, hospitals in the private
sector have employed well-trained
Transfusion Medicine experts to en-
sure safe and adequate blood sup-
INTERVIEW DR GAUTAM WANKHEDE Director-Medical Affairs, Alliance Transfusion Pvt Ltd
“Haemovigilance
help identify
pain points and
provide solutions”
I
HHaaeemooviigilaannccee,
a ssuurveeillllaancce
pprroccedduuree ccoovveerriinngg tthhee
trraannssffuusioon chhaiinn ffrroom tthhe
ccoolllleccttiioonn ooff bloodd tto itts
eeffffeectt oonn tthee ppaattiieentt aaftteer
ttrraannssfuusiionn,, hhaas rrecceeivveedd
aattteenntiion reeceenntlly wiitth
IInddiiaa llauunncchhiinng iittss oowwnn
pprrogrraammmee
32 DOCNDOC + JUNE 2014